ISLAMABAD, July 21: The People’s Rights Movement (PRM), Trade Union Rights Campaign (TURC) and Railways Workers Union (RWU) have pledged their continued support to the striking workers of the PTCL and condemned the anti-worker attitude of the Etisalat management, saying that ‘Arab capitalism’ has shown its true face.

The labour organisations have said the PPP government too should now make it clear whether it is committed to the rights of PTCL workers or in fact if it is unwilling to take on Etisalat.

In a statement issued here on Monday, Aasim Sajjad of the PRM, Azam Janjua of TURC and Jamil Raja of RWU said the ‘Dubai and Saudi connection’ was become ever more pronounced in Pakistan’s economy and politics and it was clear from the PTCL case that Arab capital had become amongst the biggest players in the country.

They have said each successive government exploits the religious sentiments of the Pakistani people and insists on maintaining exemplary relations with our ‘Arab brothers’ but in reality the ‘Dubai and Saudi connection’ is nothing more than a euphemism for a relationship of total dependency.

The labour leaders pointed to the recent agreement between the PPP government and the Saudi regime to defer oil payments as an indicator of just how unequal the relationship between the two ‘brother’ countries actually is.

Aasim Sajjad, Azam Janjua and Jamil Raja have also asserted just how exploited Pakistani migrant workers in the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia are, living in less-than-human conditions and subject to intense discrimination by the local authorities.

They said Etisalat was meting out the treatment to the workers of PTCL despite the fact that before privatization this was the most profitable state enterprise in Pakistan and its workers more technically proficient than almost all other workers in the private and public sectors.

The PRM, TURC and RWU leaders have reiterated that the PTCL management has yet to contact the union representatives of the workers to negotiate on their demands and said that if this high- handed attitude is not redressed with immediate effect then PRM, TURC and RWU will mobilise their activists along with those of other progressive labour organizations to protest outside the embassy of the UAE as well as the People’s Secretariat.

They said given the multiple crises that the state currently faces, the government must take a stand in favour of the workers so as to create breathing room for itself.